Electrical control for steam mooring winches



Nov. 12, 1940. F. WARE ELECTRICAL CONTROL FOR STEAM MOORING WINCHES Filed May 28, 1937 A Your HEA VE mama 12, 1940 PATENT OFFICE ELECTRICAL CONTROL FOR STEAM MOOR- ING WINOHE mum-n, Rogers City, Mich.

Application May 28, 1937, Serial No. 145,361

3Clalms.

The invention relates to improvements in the control of steam mooring winches and has more particular reference to electrical control for automatically operating the winch engines at a disa tance, preferably from a location adjacent one side of the boat. Almost all ships on the Great Lakes are equipped with steam mooring winches. They are of the utmost importance in the handling of the 10 vessel while docking, loading of cargo and while discharging cargo. Heretofore the method of operation of these winches has been ineflicient and frequently unsafe due to the fact that the winches were handled manually from a position 1 amidship, which made it impossible for the operator to see what was taking place on the docks. Usually the operation of two or more winches was directed by an oillcial of the ship located at a satisfactory point of vision. Since changes 20 have to be made in the position of the cables relative to the ship quite rapidly, this method of direction often resulted in confusion.

An object of the present invention resides in the provision of remote control for said steam mooring winches by which two or more of the winch'engines may be operated by an individual at a satisfactory position along one side of the boat remote from the winches.

A more particular object resides in the provi- 30 sion of electrical control for steam mooring winches by which the winch engines may be operated from a point remote therefrom with the utmost safety and precision.

Another object is to provide electrical control for the purposes described which will be so constructed and installed as not to adversely affect the manual control of-the winch, thereby making it possible to return to this manual method of control at least temporarily.

40 With these and various other objects in view,

the invention may consist of certain novel features of construction and operation as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the specification, drawing and claims ap- 45 pended hereto.

In the drawing which illustrates an embodiment of the invention and wherein like reference characters are used to designate like parts- Figure l is a*plan view of a boat showing the 50 manner of directing the same by the use of equipment and electrical control therefor comprising the invention.

Referring to the drawing, particularly Figure 1, the boat indicated by numeral I0 is being moored to the dock II by means of mooring 6 cables l2 secured to posts i3 on dock H and which have connection at their other end with the mooring winches l4, l5, l6 and I1, respectively. It will be noted that these winches are located amidship with additional winches l8, I9 10 and 20 being located forwardly and rearwardly of the boat and which are likewise used for handling the vessel while docking, loading of cargo, or while discharging cargo. Heretofore winch engines have been manually operated, the operator being located at a position'along side the winch as at point 2|. It was therefore impossible for the operator to see the operations on the dock and all information relative to control of the mooring winches was conveyed to him by a mate located at or near points 22 which are at that side of the boat adjacent the dock. Rapid changes have to be made in the position of the cables relative to the ship, especially during docking of the ship and also while discharging cargo. Accordingly, this method of direction caused considerable confusion.

The electrical control of the invention by which steam mooring winches can be operated y ith the utmost safety and precision from a remote point, preferably from a location at the side of the ship, is shown in Figure 2. The upper right-hand part of the diagrammatic view of Figure 2 comprises a diagrammatic plan of a drum type of electrical control unit A, the rotatable part of which is movable in both directions. The electrical control unit A enables the operator to actuate unit B which controls the steam pressure to the winch engine and also unit C by which the proper.direction of rotation of the winch engine may be secured. The direction of rotation of the winch engine of course depends on whether the operator desires to heave or payout on the mooring cables. The steam pressure for operating the winch engines is supplied by the steam line 23 equipped with the manually actuated valve 24 and a solenoid actuated valve 26. Handle 25 actuates valve 24, whereas, the means for actuating the valve 26 comprises unit B which consists of two solenoids 21 and 28. The plunger 30 associated therewith isoperatively connected at 3| with the lever 32 which also has connection through member 33 with the valve 26. The branch lines 34 and 35 leading from the main steam line 23 conduct the steam to the 'tions.

winch engines such as H and I and from the foregoing it will be observed that the speed of said winch engines is controlled through actuation of the valve 26.

The auxiliary line 36 conducts steam from the supply line 23 to unit C, the said auxiliary line connecting with the inlets 31 and 38 for the steam cylinder 40 equipped with piston 4| having piston rod 42 which is suitably connected by link 43 with the manual reversing lever 44. The inlets 31 and 38 join with the cylinder 48 at the respective ends thereof and therefore operate to admit steam on either side of the piston as may be desired, The exhaust pipes 45 and 46 likewise have connection with the respective ends of the cylinder and function to exhaust steam from said cylinder. The solenoids 41 and 48 actuate valves 50 and 5|, respectively, the valve 58 being located in inlet 31 and valve 5| being located in inlet 38. In a like manner the solenoids 52 and 53 actuate their respective valves 54 and 55, located in the exhaust pipes 45 and 46, respectively.

From the foregoing it will be understood that piston 4| will be moved in one direction or the other, depending upon whether steam is admitted by inlet 31 or by inlet 38 to in turn actuate the reversing lever 44 having connection with shaft 56. By means of the electrical unit A the movement of reversing lever 44 can-be controlled so that the winch engines can be caused to heave or payout" on the mooring cables. The unit A will also automatically control the throttle valve 26 through energization of the solenoids 21 and 28. This structure will now be described.

The power lines indicated L1 and L2 are electrically connected by means of the switch 51 with conductors 58 and 59, the former ending in terminal 68, whereas, conductor 59 is directly connected to the solenoids 21 and 28 and through the tap 6| is connected with the solenoids 41 and 48 and through tap 62 with solenoids 52 and 53. Terminal 63 is connected through conductor 64 with solenoid 48 and by means ofthe tap 65 with solenoid 52. Terminal 66 is connectedto conductor 61 electrically connecting with solenoid 53 and by means of tap 68 with solenoid 41. The terminals 18 and 1| are jointly connected by conductor 12 with the solenoid 21 and in a like manner the terminals 13 and 14 are jointly con nected by means of conductor 15 with solenoid In operation of the electrical conductor unit above described it will be assumed that the operators first act is to close switch 51 which will immediately join one side of the power line, namely, L2, with the solenoids 21 and 28, with solenoids 41 and 48 and with solenoids 52 and 53. As before stated, the drum type of electrical control unit A, which has been developed into a diagrammatic plan, comprises a rotatable part which is adapted for movement in both directacts 16, 11, 18, 19, 88 and 8|, and another and separate series of contacts 82, 83, 84, 85, 86 and 81, the first-named series being adapted for operation when the rotatable partof the drum type controller is moved in the direction designated Heave, and the last-named series beingadapted for operation when the rotatable part of the controller is moved in the direction designated Payout." The terminals 60, 63, 66, 10, 1|, 13 and 14, which are shown as disposed intermediate the series of contacts referred to hereinbefore are stationarily carried. When the rotatable part of This rotatable part carries a series of conthe electrical control unit A is moved into No. 1 position Heave the contacts 16 and 11 will be engaged and through conductor 81 solenoids 41 and 53 will be energized, thereby admitting steam to the left hand side of the piston 4! through inlet 31 and making it possible to exhaust steam from the right hand side of said piston. Admitting steam to the left end of piston 4| will force the piston to the right which will actuate the reversing lever 44 to cause the winch engines to rotate in that direction to wind up the mooring cables. When the rotatable part of the electrical control unit A is moved to No. 2 position "Heave an additional contact, namely, 18, is engaged, which through terminal 18 and conductor 12 will cause energization of solenoid 21. The plunger 38 will thereupon be centered with respect to solenoid 21 and this will open the throttle valve 26 a limited amount. In No. 3 position Heave two additional contacts, namely, 19 and 88, will be engaged and through conductors 12 and 15 solenoids 2 1 and 28 will be energized, whereupon the plunger will be centered with respect to the combined solenoids, which will open the throttle valve a greater amount. In No. 4 position "Heave contact 8| will be engaged and by means of conductor 15 only solenoid 28'will be energized. Since the plunger will thereupon be centered with respect to solenoid 28 the throttle valve will be opened its maximum amount. Movement of the rotatable part of the electrical control unit A from No. 4 Heave position to neutral position will close the throttle valve since both solenoids Z1 and 28 will be deenergized. Solenoids 41 and 53 will also be deenergized so that the valves actuated thereby will be closed in the inlet and exhaust, respectively. The closing of the throttle valve will result in stopping rotation of the winch engines. However, it will be noted that reversing lever 44 will be left in Heave position.

To cause the winch engines to rotate in that direction to Payout on the mooring cables the rotatable part of the electrical control unit A is moved to No. 1 Payout position, whereby contacts 82 and 83 will be engaged and through conductor 64 solenoids 48 and 52 will be energized. This will admit steam to the right side of piston 4| and will permit steam to exhaust from the left side. As a result the piston is actuated in a direction toward the left and the reversing lever 44 is actuated to Payout position. As the rotatable part of the electrical control unit A is moved to No.2, No. 3 or No. 4 positions Payout, contacts 84, 85, 86 and 81 will be successively en'- gaged to produce results similar to those previously described in connection with the movement of the rotatable part of the electrical control unit A to identical positions Heave, except of course that the winch engines are rotating in the opposite direction.

Referring to Figure 1, it will be noted that the control unit A is located adjacent the respective sides of the boat and as shown in said figure, winches l4, I5, l6, l1, l8 and H! are each provided with their individual control units. As a result of the remote electrical control of the steam mooring winches in accordance with the present invention, the operator has a clear view of the dock and he is therefore able to control the mooring winches with muchgreater safety and precision than was heretofore possible. Also the necessity of having an oflicer of the ship available for signalling is eliminated. The present equipment and electrical control may be 'a,221,scs

readily applied to installations now in use, and its addition greatly improves the operation of said installations from the standpoint of emciency and safety. However, it is possible with the present invention to resort to manual control of the winch without adversely affecting the electrical equipment.

The invention is not to be limited to or by details oi construction 01' the particular embodiment thereof illustrated by the drawing, as various other forms of the device will of course be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope oi. the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In apparatus oi. the character described, the combination with steam mooring winches for boats and the like having a throttle valve and a reversing lever, electrically operatedmeans for actuating the throttle valve, and electrically controlled means for operating the reversing lever; of a single remotely disposed manually operable electrical controller for controlling both of said means whereby the operator may be located at a distance from said throttle valve and said re.- versing lever; said controller comprising contact means arranged to energize the electrically controlled reversing lever operating means and at the same time maintain deenergized the electrically operated throttle valve actuating means when the said controller is in one position, and

contact means arranged to maintain energized the electrically operated reversing lever operating means and to energize the electrically operated throttle valve actuating means when the said controller is in a second position.

2. In apparatus of the character described,

the combination with steam mooring winches for boats and the like having a throttle valve and a reversing lever, electrically operated means'ior actuating the throttle valve and electrically controlled means for operating the reversing lever; of a single remotely disposed manually operable electrical controller for controlling both of said means whereby the operator may be located at a distance from said throttle valve and said reversing lever; said controller comprising contact means arranged to energize the electrically controlled reversing lever operating means and at the same time maintain deenergized the electrically operated throttle valve actuating means when the said controller is in one position, contact means arranged to energize the electrically operated throttle valve actuating means when the said controller is in a second position, and contact means arranged to actuate the electrically operated throttle valve actuating means to increase the opening of said throttle valve when said controller is in a third position, said secondnamed contact means and said third-named contact means being arranged to maintain energlzed the electrically operated reversing lever operating means.

3. In apparatus of the character described, the combination with steam mooring winches for boats and the like having a throttle valve and a reversing lever, electrically operated means for actuating the throttle valve, and electrically controlled means for operating the reversing lever;

of a single remotely disposed manually operable electrical controller for controlling both of said means whereby the operator may be located at a distance from said throttle valve and said reversing lever; said controller comprising contact means arranged to energize the electrically controlled reversing lever operating means, and at the same time maintain deenergized the electrically operated throttle valve actuating means when the said controller is in one position, contact means arranged to energize the electrically operated throttle valve actuating means when the said controller is in a second position, contact means arranged to actuate the electrically operated throttle valve actuating means to increase the opening of said throttle valve when said controller is in a third position, and contact means arranged to deenergize the electrically operated throttle valve actuating means when the said controller is in a fourth position, all but said first-named contact means being arranged to maintain energized the electrically operated reversing lever operating means.

FRANK WARE. 

